Thursday, January 1, 2009

Italy

Have you been to Italy? Italy is one of the places I would like to visit. My hubby has been there already. I saw how gorgeous the place is. When we went to Las Vegas we saw a replica of the little Italy. It was very beautiful. Besides of pizza, pasta and Ferrari, Italy has a lot to offer to the travellers: wide range of classical antiquities, palaces from the Renaissance, baroque churches and of course great food. In particular I would like to visit the Vatican and Rome.


Source: CIA
Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.





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